The first full moon of the year always gets me out of the house and down to the Red River Gorge for a few days of primitive camping. Primitive is a pretty good word for it, as there are no facilities to speak of and the natives tend to get a bit restless as well. 32 was the count this year and the nights got kind of long, as there was never a dull moment. Morning found the gorge pot percolating with some pretty bad coffee and us frying bacon and scrambling eggs to get started.

After breakfast we headed out for a hike, but with the steep icy roads, the crew got bogged down. I turned around and headed back up the hill to wait for the rest and spent some time at the Sky Bridge Overlook. I took a series of 210 photos (42 shots x 5 bracketed) and selected 18 of them to create this photo, which represents the sun’s passage, as it peeks through a break in the clouds, from the horizon to the foreground. Images were stacked in Photoshop to get this rendering.

Overlook at Sky Bridge – 26 January, 2013 (11:43 A.M. – 12:23 P.M.)

After leaving here I made a wrong turn on the Mountain Parkway. I realized this right away but it was too late and by the time I got to where I could turn around, I decided to make my way back though the back roads and see what I could see. I got off at Lacy Creek Rd. and began the trek back. It was slow and I wasn’t too sure about where I was going, but I had a full tank. I ran across a lot of barns. I shot a bunch, but only a couple are nice shots. I turned this one black and white to take advantage of the frosty surroundings.

I kind of like this one as well, but it’s hard to draw any color out of things when the light is so bland.

I eventually made my way back into the gorge and caught up to the crowd as they were heading back to camp. I stopped in at Gladie Creek Historical site and shot a few there. By this time the clouds were gone and the sun was burning bright. I think this is a very scenic place and I plan to go back here for more shots in the future when I have more time.

Cabin at Gladie

Cabin at Gladie

One of the barns at Gladie

Saturday night was clear at the beginning of the evening and I was hoping to get some night time captures. I have never done star trails during a full moon. Everyone says you can’t, but, I think you can if you have the patience and the right exposure, but the moon is definitely an issue. I shot Half Moon Rock during a 4 minute exposure. I was mostly just playing around but when I processed this I noticed the star trails. This is only one image and the trails are short, but I think a good stacking of several hundred shots would make a nice star trail here. I’ll be back for this shot.

It was another good year at the gorge for the annual trip. I always look forward to this event, even though a lot of folks think we’re all crazy. It’s one of the best times of the year for me. Great time.